I've been reflecting on events and things said in DAI and feel that the internal consistency of the world that was initially shown to us in DAO is being thrown into doubt. Naturally there are those events where players can exercise choice over outcomes and thus you do not expect consistency. However, there are others where there is an established history that has gone before and events that take place in the course of the game that do not change according to player choice, except in very extreme cases that very few people choose. So the attitudes of people throughout should be consistent with what went before and this seems not the case. This is particularly apparent in the case of the Wardens.
As I understand it, the only country that previous expelled the Wardens was Ferelden. People elsewhere may have become complaisant about the need for them given the number of years from the previous Blights but I do not recall that they are openly hostile towards the Wardens. On the contrary places like the Freemarches and Antiva in particular should have strong reasons to remember the actions of the Wardens in the 4th Blight with gratitude.
Ditto Ferelden and the 5th Blight. It was the heroic king Marric who invited the Wardens to return to Ferelden. It was the treacherous Loghain, who suggested that the Wardens were to blame for Cailan's death and he was subsequently discredited. No matter who takes the throne, they suggest the new initiative of the Wardens taking up an actual effective lordship in the north by offering them Vigil's Keep. This proves largely a success and the Wardens again prove the need for their presence in countering the activities of the Architect and the Mother. The majority of the Wardens manning Vigil's Keep were in fact Orlesian, in fact the Warden Commander could be if you did the ultimate sacrifice, yet the ruler of Ferelden seemed to have no problem with this.
Yet in DAI and Trespasser we suddenly seem to encounter hostility to the Wardens, not just in Orlais, which is understandable, but everywhere. If you ask the Wardens to leave Orlais, which is a sensible move considering how Corypheus can influence them and really for their own protection, we discover at the end that not only is the banishment from Orlais permanent but they are leaving everywhere. This seems entirely due to the influence of the Inquisition, even though you can specifically refused to make diplomatic use of their problems in the rest of Thedas, but no matter how strong the Inquisition seems to be in Orlais and Ferelden, other nations would not be so quick to turn on an order that has been their saviour in the past. In any case, we can't be that strong since we are told that we can't simply keep the Inquisition going in its current state since we wouldn't be able withstand it if Orlais and Ferelden united against us.
Then there is the attitude of Teagan towards the Wardens in the Council and previously in correspondence to Clarel. The letter from Clarel to Teagan would seem to suggest that Ferelden is preventing further aid from Grey Wardens in their country. It is not clear what time period this relates to but why is Teagan the one being appealed to when the Grey Wardens are already there at the invitation of the monarch and this was arranged directly with the leadership in Weisshaupt? The letter references the actions of Sophia Dryden when the former bad feeling engendered by her actions has long since been superceded by the events given above. Then you have Teagan speaking at the Council. Again he is referencing the earlier banishment of the Wardens. If this is meant to be showing what he could do to the Inquisition, it is a bit lame considering how much bigger an organisation the Inquisition has become. Still you have two instances when Teagan, apparently acting with his monarch's approval, is harking back to a much earlier period to show prejudice against the Wardens.
Yet this is the Teagan who wouldn't even be alive but for the actions of the Wardens in Ferelden. This is the Teagan who challenged the version of events being promoted by Loghain and put doubts in the mind of Queen Anora. This is the Teagan whose own brother, Eamon, seemed perfectly happy to get the Wardens involved in politics when it suited his agenda. This is the Teagen whose own nephew (in the vast majority of cases) is either still an operating Grey Warden who helped save his country or is in fact a Grey Warden on the throne of Ferelden with the approval of the Bannorn.
Then having been told in the epilogue of the main game of sinister goings on at Warden HQ in the Anderfels, with all news ceasing including that of Hawke (if you chose to save them), and at the beginning of Trespasser Varric still being none the wiser, at the end of Trespasser, Hawke is alive and well and helping Varric run Kirkwall, with no indication of why they have suddenly turned up unharmed. Even the Warden, who was meant to be off finding some sort of cure for the taint in the West, in some versions turns up back with their beloved Leliana with no mention of whether or not they did find a cure.
This is not the only example of lack of consistency but it is the most glaring one, particularly since anyone who has played all through the series has a certain affinity with the Wardens and would naturally take an interest in these things.





Retour en haut






